US3308272A

US3308272A - Electric space heater

Info

Publication number: US3308272A
Application number: US420374A
Authority: US
Inventors: Louis O Harmon
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1964-12-22
Filing date: 1964-12-22
Publication date: 1967-03-07
Anticipated expiration: 1984-03-07

Description

March 7, 1967 L. o. HARMON ELECTRIC SPACE HEATER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 22, 1964 Lo u/s O.HARMO N NVENTOR gnaw March 7, 1967 1.. o. HARMON 3,308,272

ELECTRIC SPACE HEATER Filed Dec. 22. 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Q Lou /5 QHAR M 01v INVENTOR ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,308,272 ELECTRIC SPACE HEATER Louis 0. Harmon, RD. 5, Amsterdam, N.Y. 12010 Filed Dec. 22, 1964, Ser. No. 420,374 2 Claims. (Cl. 219-530) This invention relates to a novel electric space heater wherein the electric resistance element is enclosed in a radiator tube for heating a small amount of air confined in the tube and which in turn heats the radiator tube by conduction.

Another object of the invention is to provide an electric space heater wherein the radiator tube heats fins which surround and are disposed transversely of the tube by direct radiation, and which fins in turn heat the ambient air disposed between and around said fins for providing the maximum amount of heat to the atmosphere surrounding the heater from the electricity utilized.

A further and primary object of the present invention is to provide a novel means of supporting a coiled electric resistance element in the radiator tube to enable the use of a resistance element which is not covered with electrical insulating material, so that the heat produced thereby may be utilized to a maximum extent.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter become more fully apparent from the following description of the drawings, illustrating a presently preferred embodiment thereof, and wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the electric space heater;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal sectional view thereof, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a cross sectional view of the heater taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a side elevational view, partially diagrammatic, showing a portion of the heater;

FIGURE 5 is a cross sectional view of a part of the heater, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 5-5 of FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary bottom plan view of a part of the heater, on a reduced scale relative to FIG- URE 2.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, the electric space heater in its entirety is designated generally 8 and includes an elongated radiator tube 9 which is preferab ly formed of copper. As best seen in FIGURE 2, a thin metal sleeve 10 is disposed on and closely embraces the tube 9, and provides a support for a plurality of heat radiating plates or fins 11, each of which radiates in all directions from the sleeve 10. The fins 11 are formed of thin sheet metal and are disposed crosswise of the axis of the tube 9 and the sleeve 10 and in spaced apart relation to one another.

A rod 12 is disposed in the tube 9 and rests on a bottom portion thereof. The rod 12 is of approximately the same length as the tube 9 and supports a plurality of U-shaped spring metal clips 13, each having an intermediate portion 14, as seen in FIGURE 3, which is welded or otherwise secured, as seen at 15, to an upper surface of the rod 12. Thus the spring clips 13 extend upwardly from the rod 12 and are disposed substantially perpendicular thereto. Each spring clip 13 has out-turned terminals 16 defining the upper ends of the legs thereof. A collar 17 of electrical insulating material is detachably supported in each spring clip 13. Each collar 17 has an annular groove 18 formed in the periphery thereof in which the spring clip 13 engages, as seen in FIGURES 2, 3 and 4. Thus, the rod 12 and spring clips 13 provide a support for supporting a plurality of the insulators 17 in predetermined spaced apart relation to one another, and said'rod'12, the

3,308,272 latented Mar. 7, 1967 spring clips 13 and the insulators 17 combine to form a support for the coiled wire 19.

- The ends of the tube 9 extend beyond the ends of the sleeve 10 for receiving corresponding electrical insulating members 20, each of which is elongated and has a recess opening through an inner end 21 thereof, and which recess includes an outer portion 22 opening through said end 21 and an inner portion 23 which is smaller in diameter than the outer portion. Each insulator 20 has a shallow recess 24 which opens through its outer end face 25 and which combines with the recess portion 23 to form a transverse wall 26 having a central opening 27.

A screw 28 extends outwardly through the opening 27 of each insulator 20. A nut 29 is mounted on each screw 28, adjacent the head 30 of said screw, and said nut and the screw head are disposed in the recess portion 23. The two terminals 31 of the coiled resistance element 19 are clamped between the screw heads 30 and the nuts 29 and thereby are secured to the screws 28, and a nut 32 is threaded on each screw 28 and is disposed in the recess 24 and bears against the wall 26 of the insulator 20, in which said screw is mounted, for securing the screws to the insulators 20 and for thus securing the ends of the resistance element 19 to said insulators.

One of the terminals 31 is first thus attached to one of the insulators 20, after which said insulator is applied to one end of the tube 9 by said tube end being received in the recessed portion 22 of said insulator which is of a proper size and shape to receive the tube end. The end of the tube will abut an annular shoulder 33 formed at the inner end of the recessed portion 22, so that the inner end face 21 of the insulator 20 will be spaced slightly from the adjacent end of the sleeve 10. The resistance element 19 is sufficiently resilient so that the other end thereof, which will protrude from the other end of the tube 9, can be readily fastened to the screw 28 of the other insulator 20, as heretofore described, after which said screw can be clamped to the insulator by the nut 32, and the last mentioned insulator 20 then is applied to the other end of the tube 9.

A setscrew 44 threadedly engages a radial bore 45 of each insulator 20, which bores open into the recess portions 22, so that the setscrews 44 can be tightened for clamping the insulators 20 to the ends of the tube 9. The aforedescribed connection of the ends 31 of the resistance element 19 to the insulators 20 holds the resistance element under a slight tension to prevent sagging of the resistance element between the insulator collars 17 to retain the resistance element out of contact with the tube 9.

- The screws 28 additionally function as electrical terminals for the ends of the resistance element 19. Two insulation covered conductor wires 34 have bare terminal ends 35 which engage around the screws 28 beyond the nuts 32, as seen in FIGURE 5. A cap 36 of electrical insulating material is detachably mounted beyond the outer end of each insulator 20. Each cap 36 has an internally threaded sleeve 37 imbedded therein which opens into a recessed inner face 38 thereof. The sleeves 37 are threaded on the remote ends of the screws 28 for clamping the terminals 35 thereon between said sleeves 37 and the nuts 32. The conductor wires 34 are thus electrically connected to the two ends 31 of the resistance element 19. Each insulator 20 has a recess 39 opening into its recess 24 and outwardly of a part of the periphery thereof, and each cap 36 has a recess 40 opening into its recess 38 and outwardly of its periphery and which recesses 39 and 40 register with one another to form passages, when the caps 36 are applied to the insulators 20, through which portions of the insulation covered conductor wires 34 extend.

The other ends of the conductors 34 are electrically connected by conventional electrical connectors 41 to complementary ends of two electrical conductor wires 42, the other ends of which are connected in a conventional manner to an electric plug 43 which may be connected to any conventional electrical outlet for providing an elec tric circuit including the resistance element 19.

It will be readily apparent that when an electric current passes through the resistance element 19, said element will be heated to heat the air confined in the tube 9 by which the heat will be conducted to said tube. The sleeve 10 and fins 11 will be heated by the heat radiating from the tube 9 to heat the air in the spaces between fins 11 and around said fins. It will thus be apparent that the heat produced by the electric current employed will be utilized to a maximum extent for heating the ambient air around and adjacent the heater 8.

Insulators 20, caps 36, and the insulators 17 are all preferably formed of a refractory material.

The space heater 8 obviously may be made in various lengths and cross sectional sizes, and various other modifications and changes are contemplated and may obviously be resorted to, without departing from the function or scope of the invention, as hereinafter defined by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. An electric space heater comprising an elongated metal heat radiating tube, a plurality of heat conducting fins supported on and extending transversely in all directions from said tube and disposed in spaced apart relation to one another, a coiled electrical resistance element extending longitudinally through said tube, terminals connected to the ends of said resistance element and adapted to electrically connect said resistance element to two electrical conductors; electrical insulators detachably connected to and extending outwardly from the ends of said tube and supporting said terminals beyond the tube ends for holding the resistance element extended, supporting means detachably mounted in said tube and supporting said resistance element electrically insulated from the tube between said terminals, said supporting means comprising an elongated rod disposed in and resting on a part of said tube, a plurality of collars of electrical insulating material through which said resistance element extends, a plurality of spring clips fixed to and projecting transversely from said rod and embracing said collars for supporting said collars in spaced apart substantially aligned relation to one another, each of said insulators including an elongated body of electrical insulating material having a recess opening through an inner end thereof for receiving one of said tube ends, a restricted cavity disposed beyond and communicating with said recess for accommodating a part of said terminal to which one of said ends of the resistance element is secured, a transverse wall defining an outer end of said cavity having an opening through which a part of the terminal extends, and a fastening of electrical conducting material secured to a part of said terminaland bearing against an outer side of said transverse wall for securing the terminal to the insulator.

2. An electric space heater as in claim 1, said insulator having an outer end face provided with a recess in which said fastening is received; a cap of electrical insulating material having a sleeve of electrical conducting material imbedded in said cap and opening through an inner end thereof for threadedly engaging an outer end of the terminal for clamping an exposed end of one of said electrical conductors to the terminal between said fastening and sleeve and for enclosing said electrical conductor end between said insulator and cap.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,997,146 4/1935 Hynes 219-534 2,058,769 10/1936 Brown 338274 X 2,372,150 3/1945 Whittaker 338236 2,478,808 8/1949 Deal 338-3l7 X 2,562,940 8/1951 Packer 33 8'236 2,995,646 8/1961 Kawalle 338274 X ANTHONY BARTIS, Primary Exdminer.

Claims

1. AN ELECTRIC SPACE HEATER COMPRISING AN ELONGATED METAL HEAT RADIATING TUBE, A PLURALITY OF HEAT CONDUCTING FINS SUPPORTED ON AND EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY IN ALL DIRECTIONS FROM SAID TUBE AND DISPOSED IN SPACED APART RELATION TO ONE ANOTHER, A COILED ELECTRICAL RESISTANCE ELEMENT EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY THROUGH SAID TUBE, TERMINALS CONNECTED TO THE ENDS OF SAID RESISTANCE ELEMENT AND ADAPTED TO ELECTRICALLY CONNECT SAID RESISTANCE ELEMENT TO TWO ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORS; ELECTRICAL INSULATORS DETACHABLY CONNECTED TO AND EXTENDING OUTWARDLY FROM THE ENDS OF SAID TUBE AND SUPPORTING SAID TERMINALS BEYOND THE TUBE ENDS FOR HOLDING THE RESISTANCE ELEMENT EXTENDED, SUPPORTING MEANS DETACHABLY MOUNTED IN SAID TUBE AND SUPPORTING SAID RESISTANCE ELEMENT ELECTRICALLY INSULATED FROM THE TUBE BETWEEN SAID TERMINALS, SAID SUPPORTING MEANS COMPRISING AN ELONGATED ROD DISPOSED IN AND RESTING ON A PART OF SAID TUBE, A PLURALITY OF COLLARS OF ELECTRICAL INSULATING MATERIAL THROUGH WHICH SAID RESISTANCE ELEMENT EXTENDS, A PLURALITY OF SPRING CLIPS FIXED TO AND PROJECTING TRANSVERSELY FROM SAID ROD AND EMBRACING SAID COLLARS FOR SUPPORTING SAID COLLARS IN SPACED APART SUBSTANTIALLY ALIGNED RELATION TO ONE ANOTHER, EACH OF SAID INSULATORS INCLUDING AN ELONGATED BODY OF ELECTRICAL INSULATING MATERIAL HAVING A RECESS OPENING THROUGH AN INNER END THEREOF FOR RECEIVING ONE OF SAID TUBE ENDS, A RESTRICTED CAVITY DISPOSED BEYOND AND COMMUNICATING WITH SAID RECESS FOR ACCOMMODATING A PART OF SAID TERMINAL TO WHICH ONE OF SAID ENDS OF THE RESISTANCE ELEMENT IS SECURED, A TRANSVERSE WALL DEFINING AN OUTER END OF SAID CAVITY HAVING AN OPENING THROUGH WHICH A PART OF THE TERMINAL EXTENDS, AND A FASTENING OF ELECTRICAL CONDUCTING MATERIAL SECURED TO A PART OF SAID TERMINAL AND BEARING AGAINST AN OUTER SIDE OF SAID TRANSVERSE WALL FOR SECURING THE TERMINAL TO THE INSULATOR.